Environmental and Urban Economics

I don't own a TV so when I stay in a hotel I try to watch it. This morning I was watching the 12/17 confirmation hearings of the California PUC's Michael Peevey . He is a very important guy on all energy issues for the state.

In his last NY Times column of each calendar year, William Safire always made gutsy predictions for the new year. Now that he has passed away, somebody needs to take his place. Below, I will fail at this but I hope that my failure raises your hopes that you can do better.

This breaks my Chicago heart but take a look at this unclaimed checks website at Sacramento's SMUD. Now some of you smart economists will say that this must be low stakes stuff. You like data my fellow "Super Crunchers"? Here are the micro data. Go write a JPE paper with it.

In October 2009, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Francisca Richter. The interview is presented below. Doug Campbell was kind enough to arrange this. I had a great time and I hope this new magazine is as well read as the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis' publication.

Are you an economist who has been thinking about climate change research topics? Are you eager to raise some research funds? Well, then please take a look at this . Prof.

Never forget backwards induction. Whether you are playing chess or arguing with somebody, don't forget about the sub-game you are trying to get to. In the case of carbon mitigation, we are trying to initialize a domino effect.

Economists and engineers have celebrated the coming installation of $200 real time electricity meters in our homes. This real time inflow of information will allow households to be sophisticated consumers of electricity.

Has your child ever lectured you on the importance of recycling? This LA Times article highlights a new set of children's books with a green edge to them.

Maybe I need to start "tweeting"? Most economists neither have anything to say in real time nor discrete time! But, hear me out. The movie star Vin Diesel just jogged past my Little Holmby house.

In this piece , Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has been quoted saying "that mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions would result in dramatically higher energy costs as industry was forced to shift away from fossil fuels or pay for carbon-capture technologies".

A setback for geothermal power generation is reported in the news today. The NY Times is saying that venture capitalists were sold on a promising idea where the geothermal boosters "over sold" the ease of drilling down to the energy source and under-estimated the annoyance to nearby property owners.

Professor Mankiw should consider incorporating the following income effects case study into his next edition of his textbook. Based on the simple labor supply theory of substitution and income effects, I predict that Tiger Woods will play in more tournaments in 2010.

I have been trying to follow the Copenhagen news stories such as this LA Times piece but I must admit that I do not have a good grasp on how nations actually negotiate with each other on such carbon mitigation issues.

Recent experience has shown that loyalty to one's home university is admirable but costly in terms of wages. Is this about to change? In academic economics, we have seen a rise in pay inequality.

I'm back after 5 days at UC Berkeley. We love Los Angeles but it appears that our fridge is broken. I'm hoping that President Obama will use stimulus $ to buy me an energy efficient fridge for -$500. Whenever I go to Berkeley, I learn.

This academic quarter has flown by. Neither the upset UC students nor office hours have been able to slow down time. Everyone knows that time is passing too quick but nobody is taking action to fight this. The New York Times is shocked that James Spader will turn 50 this year .

This NY Times piece has some interesting ideas. Environmental scholars have wondered about the quality of the aggregate carbon dioxide statistics that China generates.

This NY Times editorial below surprises me. Could the Smart Obama Team really be this bad at basic game theory? I thought that during the Cold War that RAND was paid big bucks for teaching the government strategy lessons in dealing with the Soviet Union.

I agree with Nat Keohane's main claim here . I read this as a "Field of Dreams" domino effect. If we build it, they (i.e China, India) will follow. The specific details don't really matter. Leadership is leadership.

I am happy to hear that China has pledged to reduce its carbon intensity by 40% by 2020 but does this guarantee a smaller global carbon footprint? Recall that carbon intensity = tons of CO2/GNP. China's economy has been growing by 8% per year.

Okay, I'll cry uncle. The Keynesian Multiplier of this government spending is very large. My Dynamic Stochastic GE Model concludes that for every $ that the Department of Energy gives to Los Angeles we generate $3112 of new output and intellectual capital.

Next week there will be a very interesting energy conference at UC Berkeley. I don't like to travel far from Los Angeles but this is worth the effort. These are very exciting days to study empirical energy questions here in California.

Bloggers are supposed to provide useful links. Each Thanksgiving, I think about the life of the turkey. This website answered many of my questions about the typical turkey's Biography .

Apparently, it is not hard to get into Harvard. Ask these Rats. They clearly were

excited about the opportunity to be research subjects in the new Allston labs and came up from below ground to volunteer to be part of randomized trials.

Here's a new criteria for ranking research universities; who on your faculty has thought about the broad issue of climate change? Permit UCLA to put its cards on the table.

The Young Men (could any women be writing this stuff?) at www.econjobrumors.com are very funny. Dora and I greatly appreciate their cumulative wisdom.

The New York Times has a front page article today bemoaning that NYC has an old sewer system that overloads on rainy days.

For academic economists, there are certain seasons. In early October, we wonder if we will win the Nobel Prize this year.

In 1988, I thought that the Brock-Mirman one sector Growth Model was nasty stuff but now look at Exhibit A and Exhibit B. Progress not regress.

I will let you decide if this elegant model resembles the modern economy.

Parents understand backwards induction. We believe that if our child can attend an elite university that this will build his/her human capital, social networks and resume.